The Broad Black Brimmer

There's a uniform still hanging in what's known as father's room A uniform so simple in its style It has no fancy braid of gold, no hat with feathered plume Yet me mother has preserved it all the while One day she made me try it on, a wish of mine for years In memory of your father Sean she said And when I put the sam brown on, she was smiling through hear tears As she placed the broad black brimmer on me head. Chorus: It's just a broad black brimmer with ribbons frayed and torn From the careless whisk of many a mountain breeze An old trench coat that's so battle-stained and worn And breeches almost threadbare at the knees A sam brown belt with a buckle big and strong And a holster that's been empty many's a day But when men claim Ireland's freedom The one should choose to lead them, Will wear the broad black brimmer of the IRA. 2. It was the uniform worn by me father year's ago When he reached me mother's homestead on the run It was the uniform he wore in that little church below When oul Father Mac, he blessed the pair as one And after truce and treaty and the parting of the ways He wore it when he marched out with the rest And when they bore his body down on that rugged heather braes They placed the broad black brimmer on his chest. Chorus: